During an armed conflict or period of gross human rights violations, the first priority is a cessation of violence. For the cease-fire to be more than a lull in hostilities and atrocities, however, it must be accompanied by a plan for political transition and social reconstruction. Essential to this long-term reconciliation process is education reform that teaches future generations information repressed under dictatorial regimes and offers new representations of former enemies. In Teaching the Violent Past, Cole has gathered nine case studies exploring the use of history education to promote tolerance, inclusiveness, and critical thinking in nations around the world. Online Book Companion is available at: http://www.cceia.org/resources/for_educators_and_students/teaching_the_violent_past/index.html« lessmore »

Elizabeth Cole is Assistant Director, TeachAsia, in the Education Division of Asia Society in New York City. She was Senior Program Officer at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs from 2000-2005.

Chapter 1 Introduction: History Education and Sociopolitical ReconciliationPart 2 Part I: As Generations Pass: The Challenges of Long-Term Reconciliation in History TextbooksChapter 3 Chapter One: The Trajectory of Reconciliation through History Education in Post-Unification GermanyChapter 4 Chapter Two: Teaching the Pacific War in Japanese Secondary SchoolsChapter 5 Chapter Three: Canadian History Textbooks and the Portrayal of Canada's First NationsPart 6 Part II: Reconciliation in ProcessChapter 7 Chapter Four: History Teaching and Reconciliation in Northern IrelandChapter 8 Chapter Five: The Civil War and Franco Dictatorship in Spanish Secondary School History TextbooksChapter 9 Chapter Six: Education and the Politics of History in Guatemala: Integrating "Memory of Silence" into the Curriculum?Part 10 Part III: Reconciliation Jeopardized, Undone or Not Yet Attained: Aspirational and Counter-Reconciliatory CasesChapter 11 Chapter Seven: Secondary School History Texts: the Case of RussiaChapter 12 Chapter Eight: From Confrontation to Cooperation in the Two Koreas: The Role of History Education in Promoting ReconciliationChapter 13 Chapter Nine: History Education and Reconciliation Issues In Contemporary India and PakistanChapter 14 Afterword

Can high school history texts "facilitate nonviolent coexistence among people divided by the memory of pain and death"? These case studies from ten countries are rich in hopeful, cautious, mixed answers. High school history teachers should take courage from this book, for theirs is a mission not often publicly celebrated: their part in the healing of the wounds in our body politic. No country should boast that it has no such wounds.— Donald W. Shriver, Jr., President Emeritus, Union Theological Seminary, and author of Honest Patriots: Loving A Country Enough to Remember Its Misdeeds

This outstanding new book provides the kind of concrete empirical detail so lacking in studies of political ethics. The authors reveal the role of history education as a means of supporting reconciliation and, importantly, undermining it. Cole's introductory essay locates the project in the multiple discourses to which this book will contribute, giving the volume conceptual and analytical coherence. Anyone interested in reconciliation, conflict resolution, and the relationship of politics to history education should own this book.— Anthony F. Lang Jr., University of St. Andrews

For anyone interested in transitional justice, national reconstruction after mass violence, or multicultural politics, Teaching the Violent Past is a source of insight and wisdom, grounded in compelling case studies of the struggles over teaching history in Germany, Japan, Canada, Spain, Northern Ireland, and Guatemala. It includes probing chapters examining ongoing debates over how Russia, North and South Korea, India and Pakistan should teach their young about the past so that neither national pride nor psychic wounds ends up fueling new violent conflicts. This book offers vital examples of efforts to engage students in critical confrontations with the complexity of the past.— Martha Minow, Harvard Law School and author of Between Vengeance and Forgiveness: Facing History After Genocide and Mass Violence

History educators, teacher educators, curriculum designers, textbook writers, and scholars of conflict and peace studies will benefit from these nine scholarly articles....Recommended.— CHOICE, July 2008

Cole provides an indispensable set of readings for anyone interested in learning how teaching history in the schools relates to healing after violence. Through their gathered chapters, the authors show how any nation's future relates to what the next generation learns about its past. Cole's collection offers a powerful synthesis of multi-national points of view, which, taken together, show how schools can reshape collective national identities and influence reconciliation.— Sarah Freedman, University of California at Berkeley

Published in cooperation with the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs.

Teaching the Violent Past

History Education and Reconciliation

Paperback

eBook

Summary

Summary

During an armed conflict or period of gross human rights violations, the first priority is a cessation of violence. For the cease-fire to be more than a lull in hostilities and atrocities, however, it must be accompanied by a plan for political transition and social reconstruction. Essential to this long-term reconciliation process is education reform that teaches future generations information repressed under dictatorial regimes and offers new representations of former enemies. In Teaching the Violent Past, Cole has gathered nine case studies exploring the use of history education to promote tolerance, inclusiveness, and critical thinking in nations around the world. Online Book Companion is available at: http://www.cceia.org/resources/for_educators_and_students/teaching_the_violent_past/index.html

Elizabeth Cole is Assistant Director, TeachAsia, in the Education Division of Asia Society in New York City. She was Senior Program Officer at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs from 2000-2005.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction: History Education and Sociopolitical ReconciliationPart 2 Part I: As Generations Pass: The Challenges of Long-Term Reconciliation in History TextbooksChapter 3 Chapter One: The Trajectory of Reconciliation through History Education in Post-Unification GermanyChapter 4 Chapter Two: Teaching the Pacific War in Japanese Secondary SchoolsChapter 5 Chapter Three: Canadian History Textbooks and the Portrayal of Canada's First NationsPart 6 Part II: Reconciliation in ProcessChapter 7 Chapter Four: History Teaching and Reconciliation in Northern IrelandChapter 8 Chapter Five: The Civil War and Franco Dictatorship in Spanish Secondary School History TextbooksChapter 9 Chapter Six: Education and the Politics of History in Guatemala: Integrating "Memory of Silence" into the Curriculum?Part 10 Part III: Reconciliation Jeopardized, Undone or Not Yet Attained: Aspirational and Counter-Reconciliatory CasesChapter 11 Chapter Seven: Secondary School History Texts: the Case of RussiaChapter 12 Chapter Eight: From Confrontation to Cooperation in the Two Koreas: The Role of History Education in Promoting ReconciliationChapter 13 Chapter Nine: History Education and Reconciliation Issues In Contemporary India and PakistanChapter 14 Afterword

Reviews

Reviews

Can high school history texts "facilitate nonviolent coexistence among people divided by the memory of pain and death"? These case studies from ten countries are rich in hopeful, cautious, mixed answers. High school history teachers should take courage from this book, for theirs is a mission not often publicly celebrated: their part in the healing of the wounds in our body politic. No country should boast that it has no such wounds.— Donald W. Shriver, Jr., President Emeritus, Union Theological Seminary, and author of Honest Patriots: Loving A Country Enough to Remember Its Misdeeds

This outstanding new book provides the kind of concrete empirical detail so lacking in studies of political ethics. The authors reveal the role of history education as a means of supporting reconciliation and, importantly, undermining it. Cole's introductory essay locates the project in the multiple discourses to which this book will contribute, giving the volume conceptual and analytical coherence. Anyone interested in reconciliation, conflict resolution, and the relationship of politics to history education should own this book.— Anthony F. Lang Jr., University of St. Andrews

For anyone interested in transitional justice, national reconstruction after mass violence, or multicultural politics, Teaching the Violent Past is a source of insight and wisdom, grounded in compelling case studies of the struggles over teaching history in Germany, Japan, Canada, Spain, Northern Ireland, and Guatemala. It includes probing chapters examining ongoing debates over how Russia, North and South Korea, India and Pakistan should teach their young about the past so that neither national pride nor psychic wounds ends up fueling new violent conflicts. This book offers vital examples of efforts to engage students in critical confrontations with the complexity of the past.— Martha Minow, Harvard Law School and author of Between Vengeance and Forgiveness: Facing History After Genocide and Mass Violence

History educators, teacher educators, curriculum designers, textbook writers, and scholars of conflict and peace studies will benefit from these nine scholarly articles....Recommended.— CHOICE, July 2008

Cole provides an indispensable set of readings for anyone interested in learning how teaching history in the schools relates to healing after violence. Through their gathered chapters, the authors show how any nation's future relates to what the next generation learns about its past. Cole's collection offers a powerful synthesis of multi-national points of view, which, taken together, show how schools can reshape collective national identities and influence reconciliation.— Sarah Freedman, University of California at Berkeley

Features

Features

Published in cooperation with the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs.